The present application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,198 entitled xe2x80x9cPower Management For An Implantable Medical Devicexe2x80x9d which is not admitted as prior art with respect to the present invention by its mention in this cross-reference section.
This disclosure relates to a medical device and more specifically to an implantable medical device capable of telemetry.
The medical device industry produces a wide variety of electronic and mechanical devices for treating patient medical conditions. Depending upon medical condition, medical devices can be surgically implanted or connected externally to the patient receiving treatment. Clinicians use medical devices alone or in combination with drug therapies and surgery to treat patient medical conditions. For some medical conditions, medical devices provide the best, and sometimes the only, therapy to restore an individual to a more healthful condition and a fuller life. Many implantable medical devices have the capability for telemetry so once implanted communications can be conducted with the medical device.
Implantable medical devices that can have telemetry capability typically include neuro stimulators, pacemakers, defibrillators, drug delivery pumps, and diagnostic recorders. Telemetry is typically conducted with a telemetry signal at a frequency in the range from about 150 KHz to 200 KHz using a medical device protocol such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,977 xe2x80x9cEfficient High Data Rate Telemetry Format For Implanted Medical Devicexe2x80x9d issued to Grevious et al. (May 19, 1998). As medical device telemetry has become more complex, the telemetry has placed greater demands on the medical device processor. Also as implantable medical devices therapies have become more complex, more demands have been placed on the medical device processor. The competing demands of telemetry and therapies for medical device processor capability can place constraints on the operation of the medical device and can consume more power than desired.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for an implantable medical device to be configured with some telemetry functions independent of the main processor to free the main processor for other functions, conserve energy, increase telemetry processing speed, and to provide many other advantages.
An implantable medical device telemetry processor performs some telemetry processing functions that under some circumstances result in reducing demands on the main processor to free the main processor for other tasks, conserving energy, increasing telemetry processing speed, and many other advantages. The telemetry processor includes control logic, a data decoder, a receive buffer, a data encoder, and a transmit buffer. The control logic operates the telemetry processor according to instructions. The data decoder is coupled to the control logic and coupleable to a demodulator, and the data decoder translates a received serial bit stream into parallel accessible words. The receive buffer is coupled to the data decoder and coupleable to a main processor bus. The data encoder is coupled to the control logic and coupleable to a modulator, and the data encoder translates parallel accessible words into a transmit serial bit stream. The transmit buffer is coupled to the data encoder and coupleable to the main processor bus.